From the Santa Barbara News-Press
The dog days of summer may be a ways off for most, but in the life of a Major League baseball player or coach, they are never too far away. To New York Yankees coach Mick Kelleher, when this happens, it's just another day at the office.
The longtime Santa Ynez resident, who spoke to the News-Press in Anaheim shortly after the Yankees beat the Angels 3-2 on Saturday evening, said that in a life filled with a 162- game (plus playoffs) routine of airplane, bus, game, hotel and repeat, the highs can't be too high, and the lows can't be too low. Those kinds of pearls of wisdom are what a professional baseball lifer can impart on a team full of future Hall of Famer players and all-stars.
Since being drafted in 1969 by the St. Louis Cardinals, Kelleher played in the Major Leagues from 1972 to '82 for five teams, most notably the Chicago Cubs. A steady fielder with a light bat (career average .213, no home runs), he is perhaps best known for his 1977 brawl with the San Diego Padres cantankerous slugger Dave Kingman. Since then, he has worked as an instructor with the Yankees, coached first base with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1986) and the Detroit Tigers (2003-05), and has been with New York as first base coach and infield instructor since the start of the 2009 World Championship season.
"I don't know of any other life, and I don't think I would want to," the graduate of the University of Puget Sound said. "But it's not for everyone. I didn't get home from last season until early November, and then Thanksgiving and Christmas with my wife (Renee) and family came and went, then I was doing some things on the ranch and then bam, it's time to go off to spring training in February. But, I have no complaints whatsoever."
Since the regular season began, life has been on fast forward where the Yankees are 33-26 and a game behind division rival Boston Red Sox. It has been an odd year in the American League East, every team is within sniffing distance of the lead. And according to Kelleher, it won't get any easier for his team.
After playing 25 games in 28 days, the Yankees are two games into a 16-in-a-row span that began on Tuesday with two losses to the Red Sox. After that, a mere three days off in July are followed by only two in August Add a doubleheader in each month and one understands why Kelleher, who also coached the Pirates in 1986 and the Tigers (2003-'05), wondered if the ancient Romans had baseball in mind when they coined the term "dog days of summer".
"We sometimes joke about when the dog days of summer are," Kelleher chuckled. "Does it start June, July, or August 15? Then we just laugh and give up trying to figure it out because there is no date for us. When you get later in the season, you just find yourself playing 20 straight in the grind to stay in pennant contention. Those are the dog days. And they come before you know it."
"Our schedule in particular is tough because there are so many TV and late night games and travel. But, it just goes with the territory. We are in the business that we are in, so you go out and you suck it up. "
The youthful looking 63-year-old does more than that. Watching Kelleher coach during pre-game warm-ups and then man the first base box is seeing someone who is wearing a uniform for the first and last time. Whether pouncing on foul balls like a ring-tailed lemur or acting like a one-man welcoming company to batters who reach first base, the passion and love for a game is outwardly apparent.
Credited for helping Derek Jeter during the future Hall of Famer shortstop's younger days, and more recently, working with second baseman Robinson Cano, the coach enjoyed a reward of sorts after the 2010 season when Jeter, Cano, and first baseman Mark Teixeira all won Gold Glove awards — the first time in the teams' storied tradition three players from the same infield garnished that honor.
"We have a composition of players here that are professional and play the game the right way," Kelleher said. "There's a little arrogance, but the egos are checked at the door. To me that's huge because they can get wrapped up with all the stuff with the media, but don't. They can come into the clubhouse as gentlemen and then go put on the uniform and go out to the field and play hard between the lines every day. They don't take the tradition of putting on this uniform and the Yankee mystique lightly."
But, he added, even the best suffer from time-to-time.
'All these players are the best in the world, but even for them, it is easy to lose that focus when you are mentally and physically tired," he said. "And when that happens, you go into a little bit of a daze and you go into a slump and then you make mistakes on defense because you are just tired."
" You talk to the players to let them know if they are working too hard and to back off their early ground balls or pregame work in the cage on the field and just concentrate on playing the game. They don't need motivation to push themselves, but we're here to coach, teach, talk to, and watch over them to make sure they keep that balance."
That means keeping up with players 30 to 40 years younger than him.
"Things are different now," Kelleher said before the game. "You have to be in better shape to help the players. Not (local attorney and Ironman triathlete) Joe Howell shape, but fit. "
When will he stop putting on the uniform and taking the glove to work?
"When I'm 75," Kelleher said with a straight face. "I think I can keep doing the drills (until then)."
Three seconds later, he couldn't hold back and broke out laughing.
"I don't know, I'm still enjoying it and living the life," he said. "Actually I'll retire when Joe Howell quits doing triathlons."
When told this, his friend chuckled.
"Any physical contest with Kelby on the other side, and my money would be on him," Howell said. "In terms of conditioning, coaching, or whatever he decides Kelby can go as long as he wants to go."
Which proves he's more than willing to grind it out.
email: sports@newspress.com
